Pope Francis successfully underwent three hours of surgery to repair an abdominal wall hernia with no complications, the Vatican and his doctor said Wednesday.
“The surgery and the general anesthesia were well tolerated by the pope, and now he is awake, he’s fine, and he’s already at work,” Dr. Sergio Alfieri, who operated on the pontiff’s intestines, told reporters at a news conference.
The 86-year-old leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics will stay at Gemelli University Hospital in Rome “for several days,” The Associated Press reported. Earlier, Vatican officials said papal audiences would be canceled through June 18.
This is the second hospitalization in 2023 for Francis, who had part of his colon removed in 2021, and the third of his decade-long pontificate. In late March, the Argentina-born pontiff spent three days at Gemelli with bronchitis.
“The surgery, decided upon over the past few days by the medical team assisting the Holy Father, became necessary due to an incisional laparocele (hernia) that is causing recurrent, painful and worsening sub-occlusive syndromes,” the Vatican press office said.
The three-hour operation, like the 2021 procedure, was performed under general anesthesia. In May 2022, Francis told a meeting of Italian bishops he had suffered discomfort after the anesthesia and didn’t want to repeat the process to treat the issues he has with his knee.
Dr. Alfieri, who heads the digestive surgery unit at the Gemelli hospital, said the operation repaired the intestinal hernia and other symptoms. He said the pope’s medical team decided on the procedure “within the last [few] days.”
The pope went to the hospital following a Wednesday morning audience in which he praised Carmelite missionary St. Therese of the Child Jesus, who was born 150 years ago. The official Vatican News service said she is “a saint to whom he is particularly devoted.”
Francis, via Twitter, asked for prayers “for the grace to love Jesus as she [St. Therese] loved Him, the grace to offer Him our trials and our sorrows, as she did, so that He might be known and loved by all.”
Vatican News reported that messages of support “flooded in” when word of the procedure was announced.
In the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, Bishop Michael Burbidge tweeted: “Please keep Pope Francis in your prayers, especially at this time as he undergoes a medical procedure. May Our Lord Jesus bless him with his healing love.”
• Mark A. Kellner can be reached at mkellner@washingtontimes.com.
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